When we moved to the DR 12 years ago, one of my first roles was teaching kindergarten to our oldest group of students. At that point, we didn’t have a school building of our own; we were borrowing churches in village Lima in order to teach our little band of 90ish students.

Those days seem so far away now. Life was awfully full back then. I had 2 little guys of my own at home. I was learning Spanish, writing lesson plans, welcoming a teenager into our family, and attempting to control an unruly group of 6-year-olds each weekday. While I was definitely pushed to my limits, I loved what I was doing. Looking back, I wouldn’t change the fact that our team was gifted the opportunity to love on those precious little souls.

One of our precious little souls was Marcia.

As a 6-year-old, Marcia was so very spirited. She often found herself in the “time-out” corner in my makeshift classroom for some defiant act or another. I remember once it got so bad that I went to her mom to ask for her help. She shook her head and said, “Marcia won’t listen to me either. Go find her dad. He can help. He lives on the other side of the village.”

I went to visit Dad to explain how Marcia had been behaving. He told me he’d be in my classroom first thing after the weekend to observe her.

When Monday arrived, I wasn’t sure if Marcia’s dad would actually show up. We went through a good portion of the morning without seeing him. But right as we started our Bible time, he walked in. When Marcia saw her dad, she sat up ruler-straight, hands clasped, barely moving a muscle. The kids were reviewing the verse of the week. I looked for volunteers, and several students raised their hands to recite it in front of the class. As we closed out our time, I asked if anyone else would like to try. Marcia’s dad piped up from the back: “Marcia, get up there and say your verse.”

Marcia solemnly and reluctantly headed to the front of the room. She repeated the verse perfectly, then slowly returned to her spot on the mat. I congratulated her but didn’t want to draw too much attention. She was embarrassed that she had a visitor.

The ironic thing was that Marcia’s dad was the witch doctor’s assistant in Lima. He was always very nice to us, but he was involved in a lucrative business. Lima’s witch doctor was well known for miles around, and he had many clients. And there, sitting in my classroom, was the brujo’s “right-hand man”, supporting us in the teaching of God’s Word to his daughter.

Like most kids, Marcia has had her ups and downs over the years. As we built our own school building and hired more teachers, Marcia had varied experiences with each of the people who were put in authority over her. She has obviously connected with some more than others, but hopefully she has felt loved and safe as she has grown up with us. Incredibly, she’s just finished up her 10th grade year! What a beautiful young lady she is.

In 2022, I had the privilege of working one-on-one with Marcia in our high school mentorship program. We had the space to talk about life: church, boys, school, emotions, family, and faith. It was so refreshing to “reconnect” with her after having been involved in other facets of the ministry.

In 2026, Marcia will walk across a graduation stage to receive her diploma. She has learned a lot of truth over the last 12 years. She has been armed with much knowledge of her Creator, of her world, and of who she is in Christ. But her beautiful story is unfinished. While I’m so sad that I’ll only watch it unfold from a distance, I am forever grateful to have been a part of these few “chapters” of her life.

Since it’s oh-so-hard for me to truly say goodbye, for now, Marcia, I’ll just end with “See you later.”